On Your Shoulders
by momoxtoshiro
Summary: Maka always carries her scythe around on her shoulders, and for once, Soul wants to return the favor.


**My second SoulxMaka fic! Again, if you didn't know from my first one, I'm ALL about the fluff so this is quite full of it. This is dedicated to all my friends on the Soul Eater forums! 3 Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Soul Eater T^T** **Why God WHY??**

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On Your Shoulders

Maka had just barely managed to dodge a long, razor-sharp claw that had been meant for her heart.

Instead it pierced her shoulder, sending a searing pain throughout her body that she knew would not fade for a few days at best. But it was better than being dead.

She landed on the nearest rooftop, panting heavily, using Soul for support.

"Oi, Maka!" He called out to her and she could just make out his reflection on the blade. "You can't keep taking hits like that, baka! It's not like you have an arm to spare if you lose that one!" He informed her.

"Shut it. I know." She snapped at him, as she often did when she was in the middle of a drawn-out battle that she should have already won.

She hardly managed to leap out of the way when the next attack came from behind her, and she wound up back on the ground again, hunched over from pain. "It's fast." She murmured, which was the understatement of the year.

"Well, we'll just have to be faster." Soul smirked.

"Right." she agreed. Tightening her grip on her scythe, she jump upwards towards the evil creature and slashed, only to have it parry her with its claws again.

"Maka! Aim for its legs!" Soul cried out just as she went in for another attack.

"Right!" she called back as she swept the metal blade horizontally, cutting right through one of the legs. The beast wailed with rage and extended its claws at the same moment Maka raised her scythe for the final blow. She brought Soul down as quickly as she could on the immobilized monster, but its claws connected with her just as it disappeared, leaving nothing but its glowing red soul behind. Maka was sent flying into a building and crumpled to the ground, face-down, where she lay, gasping. Soul took back his human form.

"Maka!" he placed a hand on her back to feel her body shaking with the effort to breathe. Carefully, he turned his winded partner onto her back, her head resting in his lap until she was finally able to breathe.

"I…I'm fine." She wheezed with a small smile. "Arigatou, Soul."

"You know you were pretty cool in that fight." He complemented and Maka almost felt flattered until he added. "Well, up until the end there. That was so un-cool."

"Give me a book." She growled, feeling the urge to Maka-Chop him.

"No way!" he spat, good-naturedly. Maka giggled lightly and pushed herself up into a sitting position. Soul stood and offered her his hand which she gratefully accepted. "How's your shoulder?"

"Okay." She lied for it felt quite numb. It was her left shoulder that was injured and, though she used both hands equally while wielding Soul during battle, she relied a bit more on her right, and was glad it had not been that one that got hurt.

As Soul walked over to retrieve the glowing ball they had earned, Maka placed her right hand on her shoulder. She winced and was a bit shocked to see the blood on her glove when she pulled it back.

"Something wrong?" Soul asked.

"N-N-No! Nothing! I'm fine." She babbled a little too fast and he immediately knew something was up but left it alone.

They began walking towards home, the moon just starting to show its grinning face above the horizon. About halfway there, Maka stumbled a bit and knocked into Soul, after which she hastily apologized.

"Idiot." He mumbled, grabbing her right arm and slinging it over his shoulder. "If you're exhausted, _tell me_. I'll help. That's why we're partners." He held her wrist with one hand and put the other around her small waist.

"T-Thanks." She flushed a bit. He noticed that she had been holding back her injuries, for she limped the rest of the way home, leaning her weight heavily on him.

Once they got back, and Soul let her go, Maka leaned against the wall and put on a smile. "So, what do you want for dinner?" She asked.

Soul looked at her as thought she'd answered 5 to the 2+2 question.

"You think you're making dinner like that?"

"Well it _is_ my turn and-"

"Okay wait, wait, let me rephrase that. You think I'm going to let a bleeding girl who can barely stand on her own go anywhere _near_ an oven or stove? That has _flames_? As in _fire_?"

"Okay, okay, I get it." She caved, stumbling over to the couch. "Don't bother making me any, Soul. I'm not hungry."

"What?! You just fought a monster while jumping around the rooftops of Death City and you're not hungry?"

The way he said it made it sound like a test question with an obvious answer that she had gotten wrong anyway.

"It happens to me sometimes. I get so hungry that if I don't eat anything, eventually it dies away."

"So…You're _so _hungry that you're _not _hungry." He clarified.

"…Kind of."

"But you're still hungry."

"…No?" She looked up at him and tilted her head.

"Whatever." He sighed, going into the kitchen.

Maka did not even bother taking off her long, black jacket or even her bloodied gloves. She just did not feel like moving.

Blair who had been sleeping soundly, curled up into a purple ball until now, lifted her head from where she lay on the couch, yawned and jumped down to the floor only to curl up again.

"Blair, you don't have to move you know. I'm not that big am I?" Maka asked, looking at the stretch of empty couch beside her.

"Nya! Blair just wanted to move in case Maka-chan needed some more room!" She meowed. "And besides, Blair's tired of sleeping in the same spot all day, nya." That was a logical argument; she _was_ a cat after all.

Maka gave a little shrug and was surprised when her shoulder started aching, even though she had barely moved at all. She tried raising her left arm a bit but found that everything was numb. She gradually started to get it to move and felt the blood flow back into place. Soon, the feeling was back but she still could not move it a significant amount just yet.

Sighing, she rolled her head back against the soft cushions of the couch and closed her eyes. She just wanted to take a little nap…

Soul entered the room and had all intentions to sit down beside her until he saw her eyes closed. He was about to retreat back to his own room, but her olive-green eyes cracked open and she lifted her head.

"Morning, Sleeping Beauty. Not…" he snorted. Maka had been about to smile, but it immediately turned into a scowl as she scoured the room for a book. "Take it easy." He laughed, sitting down beside her on her left. He placed his dinner, a big bowl of what was once soup, down on the table in front of them but Maka noticed it was already mostly empty. "Is your shoulder any better?" he asked.

"Yeah. Fine." She was a bit confused. Could he really tell when she was fibbing?

"Uh-huh, sure." He nodded sarcastically. "No it's not."

"How would _you_ know?" She blushed.

"Because I've been your partner for _how_ long? _And _I'm not stupid, _and_ it's written all over your face." He informed her.

She had opened her mouth for a witty response but closed it again.

"Is it?" She asked in a small, coy voice.

"Yeah. Why don't you go to bed? It'll hurt tomorrow but it'll be better than it is now."

"I…just don't feel like moving." She yawned, leaning her head back against the couch again, closing her eyes.

"Good. Me neither." He agreed.

Soul slouched beside her and carefully leaned his head on her injured shoulder. Maka's eyes flew open and she only just managed to stop herself from gasping out loud. But the contact with her wound did not hurt, surprisingly enough, since doing something as harmless as leaning back on a cushioned couch had made her flinch.

"S-Soul…"

"Don't move. Just stay here and go to sleep. You'll catch a cold if you sleep out here by yourself, baka." His eyes were already closed.

Maka was not sure if her heart stopped, skipped, sped up or all three, but either way she knew he could hear every beat and she blushed a crimson as deep as his eyes, which were, thankfully, still closed.

Finally, she became dreary and her eyelids failed her, drooping to conceal the large, green irises.

Her shoulders relaxed at last as she and Soul drifted off into sleep.

* * *

The next morning, the two partners woke up in the same positions they had fallen asleep in.

They blinked, blushed and looked away before standing up and getting ready. Maka took a shower and changed, feeling somewhat grossed out that she was still wearing dirty, bloody clothes. They ate a quick breakfast which Soul prepared because he still refused to let her go near the kitchen or anything else that could possibly combust.

Blair lounged around and rubbed up against Maka's hurt arm affectionately and Maka smiled.

"Maka-chan will be okay at school today, nya?" The cat titled her head.

"I'm sure I'll be fine. No worries." Maka reassured.

When she and Soul set off towards Shibusen, she still had little or no feeling back in her arm but pretended that she did, as to not worry Soul. But he noticed almost immediately when she refused to move either of her arms or stretch as she usually did every morning.

"Why are you so stiff?" The white haired boy asked. "You shoulder still hurt?"

"N-Not really." But her unintentional stammer had given her away.

"Come on! Do you honestly think I'm _that _thick-headed like Black Star?" He laughed, slapping her on the back. Maka was not expecting that and normally would have stayed on her feet and smacked him across the face. But this time, her stiff shoulders pulled her over and she only just managed to catch herself. "O-Oi. You okay? Didn't mean to hit you that hard." Soul was taken aback.

"No." She huffed, slowly straightening up again. "My shoulders are both sore for some reason. I mean, I get why the one hurts but the other was fine."

Soul's eyes widened in dismay; having to carry him in scythe-form on her shoulders 24/7 must have physically affected her. He wondered why it was just happening now and guessed it was because her shoulders were already injured.

Without warning, he pulled her arm across his shoulder and held her by the waist, as he had done the night before.

"S-S-Soul? W-What…?"

"You always have to carry me around On Your Shoulders. So now it's my turn to let you lean on mine." he told her. Maka blinked and turned her head so that her bangs covered her eyes, suddenly finding great interest in her feet.

"F…Fine. But just this once, okay?" she hated being so weak and being a burden to him.

Soul smirked.

"Sure thing, Maka. Anytime."

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**A/N: Short and sweet, neh? Did ya like it? By the way if you find any grammar or other mistakes, please let me know WHAT they are or where they are, not just 'hey you made a mistake' and not tell me. Thankies!**

**Btw, the whole thing with Maka being 'so hungry she wasn't hungry anymore' happens to me all the time. So if that's weird to you, I apologize cause I thought it happened to everyone ^^;;**

**Please review!!**


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